Quorn fuels its performance to become fast growing brand

STRONG growth and sales performance has helped accelerate Quorn Foods to become one of the fastest growing grocery brands in the UK. 

Headquartered in Stokesley, North Yorkshire, the market leader in meat-alternative foods has attracted three million new consumers and delivered average sales growth of 3% since its acquisition in March 2011 by private equity firm Exponent. In the first half of 2013, the company said it has achieved growth of 7%. 

Kevin Brennan, chief executive of Quorn Foods, said:  “We are delighted with our progress since becoming a standalone business, especially in the UK. This year, Quorn’s performance has further accelerated to the point that it is now one of the fastest growing grocery brands in the UK. 

“The continued trend towards eating less meat has been a significant factor within this growth. With health, price and quality issues around meat still top of people’s minds, this trend is only going to continue and will further fuel Quorn’s growth in the long term.”

Quorn Foods’s 2012 results show sales of £131.6m, a reported increase of 20%. The company’s pre-tax profits for the same period were £10.8m, up £2m on a like-for-like basis, driven by over £5m of capital investment to improve supply chain efficiency. 

Under its previous ownership a year before the acquisition, (Premier Foods), sales declined by 9%. 

Brennan added: “Our performance for 2012, combined with our compound growth over the two year period, shows strong and sustained sales increases. There are few food companies producing this level of consistent growth.

“Our profit increase is particularly pleasing given the backdrop of commodity price rises and has been driven by significant capital investment to drive the efficiency of our supply chain.  We have chosen to reinvest these gains into marketing to capture the current opportunity and drive faster growth moving forward.”

Since becoming a private company, Quorn has made a number of strategic investments across the business to drive growth, including £15m in marketing in the last two years.

Quorn Foods employs around 600 people and exports to 12 countries including Australia and the USA. It’s the UK’s 35th biggest food brand.

Quorn Foods is the reporting group which includes a main trading company, Marlow Foods. It encompasses all international operations of Quorn and Cauldron.